About Farm School

"There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live."
James Adams, from his essay "To 'Be' or to 'Do': A Note on American Education", 1929

We're a Canadian family of five, farming and home schooling. I'm nowhere near as regular a blogger as I used to be.

The kids are 17/Grade 12, 15/Grade 10, and 13/Grade 9.

Contact me at becky.farmschool@gmail.com

Notable Quotables

"If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
William Morris, from his lecture "The Beauty of Life"

"The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall, nations perish, civilizations grow old and die out; and, after an era of darkness, new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men’s hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead."
Clarence Day

"The chief aim of education is to show you, after you make a livelihood, how to enjoy living; and you can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning."
Gilbert Highet, "The Immortal Profession: The Joys of Teaching and Learning"

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6 Responses

My comfort reads are the Williamsburg novels by Elswyth Thane. They take a Virginia family (along with the British relations) from the colonial era to the early days of World War II. I first read these while a young teen. Fearing the local library would discard them, about ten years ago I purchased the reprints. When we bought our cottage on Kootenay Lake two years ago, I bought a second set of reprints to keep in that house. I reread the series every year, always at a time when I find I just need to totally take myself away mentally from whatever is going on in my life. There are a number of books I reread on a regular basis of more lilterary quality, but I find the Williamsburg series is the best for a sustained escape.

These are completely new to me, Elaine, thank you! And you’re completely right about “a sustained escape” — there’s something about a series or a number of books in a similar style by the same writer (such as Austen and Mitford). Otherwise it’s like eating only one chocolate or potato chip, and where on earth is the comfort in that?

I love getting these recommendations – i have never read Mitord or Than or Buchan. On to comfort reading. I’m currently reading Wartime Women, an anthology of Mass Observation writing from WWI, really interesting, and perhaps something for your history gang.

mary lou, Mitford and Buchan are great fun, and of course perfect for a crisis what with that underlying stiff upper lip. When we were in NYC in November we took the kids to see a spiffy new Broadway production of “The 39 Steps”.

MamaShift, I don’t know if The Guardian’s ideas are similar to my own, but as I note on my “About” page, most of my links are to Amazon.com, rather than any Canadian online seller (including Amazon.ca) or independent sellers, not because I think Amazon is the best purveyor but because it has the most complete and informative website.